Page 43 - Australian Motorcycle News (January 2020)

orton’s decade-long ride down the
comeback trail under the ownership

If middleweight of Stuart Garner is reaching fruition.
Production has commenced of its
650cc parallel-twin Atlas range
modern retros
unched at the 2018 Birmingham NEC Show, and
are where it’s at, nitially available in the Nomad street scrambler
nd the decidedly more dual purpose Ranger.
then Norton’s
riced at the upper end of the middleweight
arket, the Nomad retails for a ride-away price
new Atlas is
(AUD$22,575), these two all-new motorcycles
what Britons will of £9995 (AUD$18,800) and the Ranger at £11,995
presage what Garner promises should be a
constantly expanding range of entry-level models.
want
The Atlas duo are a direct spinoff from the

eight-valve DOHC parallel-twin wet-sump motor
TEST ALAN CATHCART
essentially representing the front cylinder bank of
PHOTOGRAPHY KEL EDGE firm’s 1200 V4 models, with the liquid-cooled
the 72° V4 engine, with the same chain camshaft
drive up the left side of the Atlas motor, which is
fitted with a 270° crank. This has been stroked
slightly to obtain a full 650cc, so that instead of
the V4’s 82 x 56.8 mm format the Atlas engine now
measures 82 x 61.5 mm, in which guise it delivers
the same 63kW (84hp) at 11,000rpm at the crank
on each model, with 64Nm of torque peaking at
9000rpm, running on 11:1 compression.
Norton uses a dedicated engine management
system from Mechtronic, the same supplier as on
the V4, with twin 48mm Jenvey throttle bodies,

each with a single Bosch injector and a ride-
by-wire digital throttle, but as yet no choice of
different riding modes. The six-speed extractable
cassette-type gearbox with straight-cut primary
gears uses the same ratios as the V4, with a cable
operated oil-bath clutch, and a single gear-driven
counterbalancer to eliminate undue vibration,

which it indeed does.